Guinness World Record Broken at Pininfarina Car Gathering

The Hurtwood Park Polo Club in Ewhurst, Surrey played host to the first appearance on British soil of the Pinifarina Sergio during the first weekend of June but that wasn’t the only newsworthy story of the weekend. The club, which is owned by ex-Who and Small Faces’ drummer Kenney Jones, attracted some of the world’s prettiest cars to break a record and celebrate the life of the man the firm’s latest machine is named after.

Paolo Pininfarina, the Italian design house’s CEO and third generation car designer, was on hand to unveil the Pininfarina Sergio to the UK public on a fine summer’s day but the arrival of a record setting 185 Pininfarina cars got the most attention. The lawns overlooking the polo playing field were covered with a collection of some of the world’s finest machines. Ferrari’s like the 458 Spider, 360 Modena, Testarossa, Daytona and F40 were on show to the public along with other Italian built machines like the Lancia 2500 and the Maserati Coupe and Maserati Quattroporte.

The Alfa Romeo Owners Club was represented by the Alfa JTS Spider, Alfa 2600 and the Alfa Brera. Alfa and Pininfarina enthusiasts also brought along the Alfa 1750, Alfa 156 and Alfa 1750. Although these exotic cars took most of the limelight there was still space for other Pininfarina designed cars so machines like the Peugeot 406 Coupe, Wolseley 16/60 and Fiat Coupe were also represented.

The car that attracted the most excitement was the Ferrari SP12 EC, a Ferrari 458 Italia based Pininfarina designed supercar. Although the machine’s eye catching, most onlookers were hoping to catch a glimpse of the car’s driver, Eric Clapton, for whom the car was specially commissioned.

There were no prizes given for any of the Pininfarina cars brought to the polo club, but the event brought together a diverse collection of cars which proves that Pininfarina’s influence on car design goes beyond the work they have carried out for the Prancing Horse.